Is it all an Illusion?
by naughty-as-candy
Summary: A new mutant comes to The Xavier Institute. She is strange and throws everyone into doubt. Her power is dangerous. Who can help her? OC! Summary is rubbish sorry!
1. The Rescue Mission

I had re-upload this story – because one I am stupid and two I forgot to double space it. So here's my new x-men story. Enjoy!

It was a dreary afternoon when Professor Xavier called his aptly name x-men into his office. He had a mission for them - an extremely important mission. He looked at the people gathered around the room. Ororo and Scott, the team leaders, looked attentively from the chairs in front of his desk. They were better known as Storm and Cyclops. Rogue and Bobby, or Iceman as he liked to be called stood together with Kitty Pryde or Shadowcat chatting happily with them. The Professor knew his protégée, Jean Grey stood faithfully behind him. Beast in his smart suit looked every inch the politician as he waited with Nightcrawler beside him for the last member of their team to arrive.

Wolverine. He was always late. When he stormed into the office, roughly slamming the door, no one even spared him a glance. "It was good of you to join us, Logan." The Professor remarked dryly before proceeding to brief the team on the problem at hand.

"I have called you all here, because this mission needs our full attention. We have to collect a mutant-"

Logan swiftly interrupted; "If it's just a collection why do we all need to go? I swear I have to go to every damn one of these things!"

The Professor calmly carried on; "Well, Logan I thought you would relish the chance to take down another of Stryker's facilities."

A collective gasp went around the room, "I thought that we had destroyed his facility at Alkali Lake. Wasn't he only experimenting there?" Storm inquired.

Rage was pouring off Logan in waves of frustration. The Professor tried to ignore his obvious struggle, knowing that Logan would not want attention bought to it. "No, unfortunately Stryker had another facility in a remote location. It was his 'back up' facility, with a number of mutants in residence there. From what I can tell, at the moment there are 5 mutants in the facility."

"What do you mean 'from what you can tell' doesn't Cerebro give you an accurate reading?" McCoy asked.

"Well, the facility was heavily shielded, much like Eric's helmet kept me out of his thoughts, this facility was completely unknown to me until 4 months ago, when I believe there was a tear in the shield. This allowed me a brief glance at the mutants inside." The Professor explained.

Logan growled; "You've known about this for four months!? Why the hell didn't we go in straight away?"

Xavier looked at Jean, she replied in his stead; "Because Logan, there is a very special mutant in the facility. We had to prepare her mentally, so that when we rescue her she will not die from the shock. She has been in there her whole life."

Scott cut in before Logan could shout again; "So we have a person on the inside? Who are they? Are they going to help us get in?"

The Professor nodded gravely; "Yes, we have a person on the inside named Kerry, she is an accomplished telepath. Unless her cover is blown she cannot help us get into the facility. She volunteered to spy on Stryker's facilities from the inside. We will leave shortly. Scott if you could prepare the jet? Hank, you and Jean will check the health of the mutants imprisoned there when we have safely rescued them on the jet. Kurt, we may need to quickly evacuate the facility so you may have to teleport a number of people to the jet. Make no mistake everyone; the facility will be heavily guarded with mutants and human soldiers alike."

The X-men team looked grave as they filed out of the office. In no time, the entire team was in their suits and on the jet, ready to take off. The Professor had stayed at the Institute to run the school while the x-men, and therefore most of his teachers, were away. He had purposely sent them on this mission on a long weekend to minimise the impact on the school year. Goodness knows the children had had enough commotion already. The Professor watched the jet as it rose up out of the basketball courts and swiftly flew away. He could only hope that the team came back alive with their precious cargo.

The X-men meanwhile, had no idea what they were walking into. The only thing they knew was that it was one of Stryker's facility's so to expect lots of nasty surprises and traps. When the team had landed in the remote area they quickly scanned the area. There was nothing. Logan prowled the area; he could barely contain his frustration. "For god's sake where the hell is the facility? It's supposed to be here! Could Chuck have been wrong?"

Storm calmly replied; "No, the professor said it had some kind of cloaking device remember? Jean do you sense anything?"

Jean raised her hand to her head and concentrated; "Yes there's definitely something here. It's about 2 metres in front Scott."

The team glanced at the space in front of Scott; "But there's nothing there!" Bobby exclaimed.

Scott carefully walked with his hands outstretched in front of him, until he hit a solid object. Once he had touched it with his hand, Scott could see the facility. He gasped, it was a monstrous building. The others mimicked his actions touching the facility gingerly. As soon as they saw the facility Logan growled. The building was built out of grey metal crudely welded together with blocks of concrete stretching in between. The front door had a security panel which Logan quickly overcame by stabbing it with his metal claws. They walked through the large door and carefully walked down the dimly lit corridor. Suddenly a piercing sound split the air; "It's the alarm, get ready guys, they definitely know we're here!" Scott decided to state the obvious.

"Let's split up, we can cover more ground that way and it will confuse the guards. Storm you go with Logan, Jean and I will go this way, Bobby, Rogue and Kitty go together – see if you can find the control room. Beast and Nightcrawler try and free as many as the captives as you can. Get them back to the jet." Jean ran off with Scott before anyone could protest.

Logan and Storm ran down the corridor, checking at each intersection that no one was getting ready to attack them. They only ran a short distance before a group of guards stood in front of them guns poised. "I'll take the ones on the left you take the ones on the right" Logan quickly muttered before launching himself at the guards. Some bullets grazed him, but he healed quickly. He used his claws to slash at their guns, cleanly slicing them in two. Logan grappled with them, trying to subdue the guards – Chuck didn't like all the killing he did. He stabbed at their vests, wounding them instead and knocking them over the head with his fists. Storm on the other hand had levitated herself into the air, using lightening to blast the guards back as they fell unconscious. When they were all subdued Logan looked at Storm; "Why the hell did Scott put us together? You control lightening and I'm made of metal!" Storm smiled softly before continuing down the corridor.

They looked into the small grimy windows of the rooms on either side of them. Mostly it was computer equipment or surgical rooms. Storm shuddered to think what those surgical instruments were used for, they gleamed with malice. It was in the fourth of fifth room that they found the first mutant captive.

It was a boy, no older than thirteen, huddled sobbing on the small mattress in the middle of the room. Logan quickly slashed at the locks and the door swung open. Storm walked in carefully and in a soothing tone talked to the young boy. "It's ok; we're here to help you. We can get you out of here. I'm Storm and this is Logan. Don't worry, he may look scary but he'll protect you." Logan snorted as he warily looked around the corridor – searching for any threat.

Suddenly Nightcrawler appeared next to him. Logan nearly slashed his neck before realising who he was. "God, Blue! Don't you know by now not to do that to me?"

Kurt swallowed a couple of times before replying; "Sorry. I was coming to get the mutant you found, Jean contacted me. It was very hard to get here – I could not see where I was going. I will take him back to the jet." Kurt walked into the room and carefully held onto the boy and seconds later he was gone, leaving only a small wisp of smoke in his wake.

Storm and Logan turned as one down the next corridor, it was a dead end. The room at the very end of the corridor was brightly lit. Warily, they approached the room. Storm peered through the thick glass; "Logan, break it open. Now." Logan, for once did as he was asked and slashed the doors hinges away from the wall. The door swung against the wall violently, announcing the duos arrival with a loud bang. They both tensed expecting an attack from a scared mutant or at least the guards, but none came.

The room was completely white; there was only one object in the room. It was a clear six foot long tank raised on a pedestal. The water was a clear crystalline blue; it was perfectly still, not a ripple disturbed the surface. But what was in the tank interested the x-men more. It was a girl. She had wires attached to every part of her body. The wires disappeared into the floor of the tank, so there was no way of knowing what she was attached to. They had shaved her head to place wires with pads on her skin and temples. She had her eyes clothes and was just floating in the water undisturbed.

Storm spoke into her communication device; "Scott, Jean, I think we've found her. You better come see this." There was a swift reply; "We'll be there as soon as we can. We've have found all the other captive mutants. Kitty is in the control room while Bobby and Rogue are taking care of the guards. So we should be there soon."

Logan could not stop staring at the girl. "What the hell are they doing to the kid?" he asked more to himself than Storm. It seemed like only moments passed before Jean and Scott raced into the room, slightly out of breath; "Oh my God. What should we do Scott?"

"The Professor said we have to get her out of here no matter what. Hank says that the other prisoners are fine; apart from some mental trauma and a couple of scratches they should be fine. But this girl, well, unless we get her out of her I think she could die. We are going to have to disconnect her from the machine somehow. Jean, you disconnect the wires, Logan can you break the glass when you're ready?" Scott replied.

Logan nodded, his eyes still transfixed on the girl in the tank as Jean used her telekinesis to carefully disconnect the wires attached to her. Suddenly Jean tensed; "Scott, there are guards coming down the corridor!"

"Storm come with me, we'll hold them off until you're finished!" Scott ran out into the corridor his hand already on his glasses.

Only moments later, Jean shouted; "Logan, now – smash the glass NOW!" Logan willingly obliged, smashing the glass in one go. The water cascaded out of the tank with the girl falling to the floor. Logan snatched her up and ran out of the room with Jean on his tail. He clutched the girl to him, as he swiped left and right with his claws. Cyclops and Storm had taken care of most of most of the guards; Logan only had one or two to beat with Jean taking care of the rest.

They ran out of the facility meeting the others at the front door. They quickly advanced to the jet the girl still unconscious in Logan's arms. Hank carefully took the girl and laid her out to check if she was ok. As they took off Hank concluded; "Well, physically she looks fine, slightly underweight but otherwise healthy."

As the journey continued, the x-men's young charges tentatively introduced themselves. There were 3 boys all under eighteen, who had been taken quite recently. They were called Charlie, Billy and Jack. The two girls both looked under twenty as well. The girl who wasn't unconscious was called Anna. She was petrified. Silence filled the jet; the occupants all looked at the girl laying unconscious on a stretcher.

"Who is she?"


	2. She awakes

The jet landed swiftly in the Xavier Institute complex. As soon as the door had opened Logan swept the unconscious girl into his arms, running as fast as he could without jostling her too much. Storm guided the other children into the building, explaining about the Institute.

"Don't worry, you're safe here. This is the Xavier Institute it's a special school for people like us. We are all mutants here. First we have to go to the medical rooms, just to make sure you're healthy then we can try to contact your parents and talk about what you guys want to happen." She smiled reassuringly at the small group of children, who had visibly tensed at the words 'medical rooms'. They were mistrustful of everyone.

Meanwhile Logan had arrived at the medical rooms, with Hank right behind him and Professor Xavier already waiting calmly beside the bed. Logan placed the girl down carefully. For some reason he felt very protective of the girl. He had an illogical need to protect her.

Professor Xavier looked at the girl with sympathy in his eyes, while Hank attached heart monitors to her chest.

"She's slightly thin and a bit malnourished but apart from that she seems healthy." Hank told the Professor.

"Who the hell is she?" Logan looked at the Professor.

Xavier looked at Hank; "Will you alert me when she awakes?" Then to Logan he said; "Come with me to my Office I will explain everything." Xavier left the room, eagerly followed by Logan. Before he walked out the door, he spared a quick glance for the girl.

Logan padded quietly behind Xavier, when they reached his office Xavier said; "Jean, Scott and Storm are already in there. I thought it would be easier to explain to everyone all at once."

As the door opened and Xavier settled himself behind his desk, the other members of the team looked at him expectantly.

"The girl in our medical facility that you rescued this morning is a very powerful mutant. She has been kept in that facility for most of her life. Stryker genetically engineered her embryo and placed it in a surrogate mother, it was part of his study to let mutants grow naturally with their powers instead of surgically altering them, like Logan." Xavier paused letting the news sink in.

"He genetically engineered babies? How could he?" Jean was quiet with horror.

Xavier explained; "His plan was to keep them 'safe' from birth, gain their trust and use them to his advantage. She is an extremely special case; she was one of the very few embryos' who survived birth. It's a miracle she survived. However, because she was genetically engineered she had her mutant powers from a very early stage – she showed her first sign of power at the tender age of three."

"How do you know this?" Scott asked.

"Well, when I found out about her captivity I sent in a telepath called Kerry. Kerry sent the girl's files to us and has been forming a telepathic link to the girl. Stryker wanted to use the girl as a weapon, so he prepared her for the outside world. He exposed her to the sights and sounds of the world, without every releasing her from the compound and ensured she was ready to move by stimulating her muscles. He placed himself in a position of power and therefore she would have trusted him when she was woken up –"

"Wait... she was asleep? How did he make her ready for the world and make her trust him?" Storm asked.

Xavier inhaled deeply while looking at his team members gravely. He was obviously upset. "Stryker used her power against her. She has the power of illusion. She can make you see things; she can make you believe that what you are seeing is reality. She can fool you so completely that you don't know what's real and what's not."

"So what did Stryker do? And what does the telepath have to do with it all?" Logan inquired.

"In answer to your question Logan, Kerry has been integrating the idea of mutants and of us into her perception of the world. I'm not entirely sure how she integrated us into her psyche, but when the girl awakes she should recognise us. Stryker did basically the same thing – he used his image and implanted it into her brain, he posed as a person she could trust."

"We used the same techniques as Stryker? Professor how could you?! We basically brainwashed her!" Logan exclaimed.

"No, Logan. We did it so that she wouldn't be so scared when she awoke. She has been unconscious her entire life. She has never used her eyes, her ears or her nose. She has never spoken a word to anyone. But, in her eyes she has lived a full and happy life. She has been under an illusion from when she was three."

The room was engulfed in shocked silence. No one could absorb the idea that this girl was a prisoner in her own mind for seventeen years.

The silence was interrupted by Hank knocking on the door; "Professor – she's awake."

**A/N: IS this ok? Comments are like air to me! Sorry it's such a short chapter I needed a chap that explained some stuff without the major freak out that is on the horizon. Just you wait ... it's gonna be good! x**


	3. What the hell is going on?

AN: So this is quite a long chapter me thinks. Feed back is as always appreciated very much. Italics are the main characters thoughts - "the girl". Don't worry you'll find out her name soon enough! Oh and this is an explaining chapter... the real disbelief starts in the next one. xXx

Green eyes stared at the ceiling, unseeingly. She lay flat. _Where the hell am I?_ _I was outside. I was walking...where was I walking? And then...then there was nothing. So how did I get here? Ok... I mustn't panic. It looks like a hospital. White walls and an uncomfortable bed - Yep, definitely a hospital. Should I call out? No...that could be unsafe. OK let's test the legs hmm? _The girl looked at her toes as they wiggled hesitantly. She smiled before rolling her ankles experimentally and hearing a soft click smiled slightly. _Well that's two checks; check for hearing and check for working, although slightly creaky, ankles. _She bent her knees and swept her legs over the side of the bed, sitting up as she did so. Her smile grew to cover her face. She slowly pulled the wires off her chest. Wincing slightly as the pads pulled at her skin. Her hand went to tug at her hair – a nervous habit her mother always berated her for. Her heart skipped a beat as she felt only bear scalp. A tear ran down her face – _What kind of freaks cut off your hair? Unless I had a brain injury..._She felt her head gingerly but felt no scars or wounds. _Okay, so a hospital wouldn't shave off your hair for no reason. So not in a hospital, it's definitely not safe to call out._ A small sound alerted her to her oncoming audience.

Before she had time to even think about what she was going to do, the door opened to reveal Professor Xavier. Hank McCoy stood slightly to his left and Logan stood to his right with Jean standing directly behind him. _Ok, a guy in a wheelchair, a furry blue dude, a woman who looks like some kind of social worker with that permanent 'I'm here for you' look and a guy who looks like he's on steroids. _A small smile twitched at the corner of the Professor's mouth at her thoughts. He decided to introduce himself.

"I am Professor Xavier you are in my School for gifted children. You are in a safe place for mutants, like you and I. This is Doctor Hank McCoy and behind me are Jean and Logan. We are here to help you, there's no need to be afraid. Could you please allow Dr McCoy to check your condition? He wants to check you are healthy. You've been through quite the ordeal." The girl looked at the new people who had just entered the room. Her eyes flicked up and down each one, taking in their appearance and appraising each ones threat level. She tensed as the Beast hesitantly took a step forward. He stopped, sensing her unease. She looked at him ignoring the Professors reassurances. She looked directly in his eye, nodding only once to allow him to examine her.

She realised she had not been listening to the Professor and hastily listened. _Maybe I can find out what his true intention is._ The doctor quickly examined her limbs, lightly running his fingers over her skin being careful not to harm her in anyway. _Well, I've never had a medical exam before, so I've got no idea if that was alright or not. _

Throughout this small exchange, which was really just the Professor rambling on Logan shifted uncomfortably. He was worried at the girls silence and obvious unease. And he was tense – they had no idea how the hell she was going to react to the massive mental shock they were about to break to her.

"We are part of a team that protects mutants. The students of this school have nicknamed the team – X-men. On a mission to free mutants from a government compound, we found you." Professor Xavier explained.

_X-men... why does that sound familiar? X-men...oh wait... this is too good. The X-men – they are the comics my little brother used to read! He had piles of them! Oh my god! The guy in the wheelchair, sorry, 'Professor Xavier', is the psychic one with that Jean lady as well. The blue guy well, that's self explanatory. The stoic, silent guy....huh. Which one is he in my stupid delusion? This must be a dream, a very vivid and realistic dream, but a dream nonetheless!_

The girl laughed loudly in relief, startling the other occupants of the room.

As she giggled quietly to herself Logan growled; "Why the hell is she laughing?"

Professor Xavier read her surface thoughts as he had got into the habit of doing and explained; "She thinks that this is a dream based on the comic books her brother reads. I think the plan with Kerry was a mistake. Let's go into my office I want to explain to her fully." He quickly wheeled away with Logan and Jean trailing closely behind him.

Hank moved to a side cupboard and quickly got out some clothes. "Here, these are for you. I will leave the room and wait outside while you change then I will guide you to the Professors office." He quickly left the room after she had taken the clothes.

The girl quickly changed into a grey tracksuit pulling the hood up, to cover up her shaved head. She looked around for shoes but found none. She padded out of the room and saw Hank, he smiled at her warmly before turning around and walking down the corridor. She followed silently, taking in her surroundings. When she finally came to the door of the Professors office she had seen many things including some of the students. Hank had been surreptitiously studying her throughout their short journey. He opened the door to the Professors Office and followed her through.

The Professor motioned for her to sit, as she settled comfortably in her chair he began to explain; "This world is the real world, before now you have been living under an illusion. We rescued you from a government compound set up to ... explore the extent of mutants' abilities. You have been there for your whole life. The man who set up this facility was William Stryker he-"

At this the girl spoke for the first time, it was rather sluggish and mispronounced, this was her first time using her tongue after all, but they understood none the less; "What? William Stryker? Is this some kind of sick joke? What do you know about my father?"

At this there as a shocked silence. The Professor paused trying to recover; "Your father? He was not your father. He was the man imprisoned you."

"NO he wasn't! He was my father! None of this is even real anyway shut the hell up! Stop saying fucking lies and let me out! You probably aren't even mutants!" The girl shouted from her chair.

The professor let nothing show on his face. "Logan, if you please." Logan felt like a show animal for God's sake, but he did it anyway. His adamantium claws ran out from in between his knuckles.

"Holy shit! Where the hell did those come from? Are they real? What is going on!" She got up from her chair torn as to whether to go closer and satisfy her curiosity or run away from the fact that the guy had bloody great claws coming out of his hand. Eventually her curiosity got the better of her and she tentatively stepped forward. She reached out her hand, looking up at Logan for permission. He nodded through his surprise. Usually people were too intimidated to even look at him, but this girl wanted to touch him? She's got balls. He thought to himself.

She lightly ran her hands over the top of his hand, being careful to miss the razor sharp edges of his claws. Her fingertips caressed his skin in awe and she smiled up at him; "They're cool."


	4. How can this be true?

Sorry for the wait, exams have been a bitch! I have been revising like there's no tomorrow which didn't leave much time for updating my fanfics sorry guys. Right so here is where we left off ;

Talking about his Logans claws; "They're cool".

Logan coughed trying to hide his embarrassment. He said; "Ok kid, you can stop touching me up now." He tried to smile but felt it was more of a grimace.

The girl snatched her hand back quickly, while her cheeks reddened and she turned back to her chair. Logan regretted his words instantly; he should have remembered his jokes never went over well. She sat back in the chair glaring at Professor Xavier.

"Sorry, but there's no fucking way this is real. You're a comic that my little brother reads for Gods sake! I've gotta be having some kind of delusion... or something. Shit. And how can you even say that my dad's a bad guy? Why the hell would anyone lie about crap like that? You're all full of it. Just let me go back home! Why did you take me away from where I was happy? Why did you take me away from my family? What could you possibly have to gain?" The girl exhaled sharply in a sigh as she finished her tirade.

The Professor smiled in his infuriating way. "I will try to explain. You are a mutant. You have the power of Illusion. You can make people believe that what you make them experience is real. As for the comic book...well, that can be explained. You were being held captive in a facility that turned your powers against you, you have been living an illusion your whole life. Everything you knew was a lie. William Stryker employed a psychic, to make you think that he was your father, so that if you were ever awakened accidently or were needed for a mission you would trust him. We placed a spy in the facility so that she could place the X-men in your consciousness in an effort for you to believe us. That is why we look familiar. We took you out of your imprisonment because we want to shut down Stryker's facilities – he is using mutants as weapons."

The girl sat in silence. She did not utter a word; her eyes had glazed over in shock. Her mouth opened but no sound came out as tears ran down her cheeks unheeded. Deep in her heart she believed what the Professor said, maybe because somewhere what he said made sense. She looked at the Professor, her eyes brimming with tears. "Say I believe your stupid story. Didn't you do exactly what my Da- I mean Stryker did? You used a psychic to try to get me to trust you. Which means you manipulated me! And so what if my family wasn't real? I was happy! Why would you take me away from my life? From my happiness?"

Logan interrupted hotly at this point; "It matters because you were no better than a damn vegetable! You weren't living any kind of life! You were caged in that place!"

The girl, undaunted shouted right back; "SO WHAT? Is a prison still a prison if you don't know it is? What if you're happier in a cage than you ever would be outside? What gave you the right to do that?"

Jean broke in quietly; "A gilded cage is still a cage. You were still imprisoned no matter how attractive the trappings."

The girl glared in her direction; "Yeah? And what the hell would you know about it? Have you ever been told your whole life is a lie? That you've actually never been loved by a human being? That all your friends, your family, are basically a figment of your own imagination?"

She rounded on Professor Xavier; "I bet I don't even have a power! You've lied about everything else!"

The Professor replied; "Well let us test which of us is telling the truth. Please calm down. Firstly breathe deeply and slowly."

The girl didn't move for a few moments, until she grudgingly sat down. She instinctively closed her eyes, rolling her shoulders and necks as she did so. She breathed deeply, trying to exhale her grief and tumultuous emotions. The other occupants of the room were tense.

The Professor continued; "Now, concentrate with your mind, try to change something in the room or about yourself. Picture the image in your head clearly. Hold it in your mind's eye for as long as you can."

For many minutes the girl just sat there, trying in vain to cast an illusion. She concentrated very hard until there was a soft gasp from behind her.

She opened her eyes in annoyance; "I'm trying to concentrate here!" She found every eye in the room turned to her. "What? Did I do it?" Despite her better judgement a flicker of hope sparked deep in her chest. The Professor smiled and silently motioned to a mirror mounted on the wall. The girl slowly got up. _What a vain guy to have a mirror in his office, it's not even at his height – how the hell does he look in it? _She looked in the mirror and her heart stopped at what she saw. Thick, black glossy curls fell past her shoulders. She had hair! Her face twisted in anguish as she threw back her hood to touch her hair but it disappeared along with her concentration. Angry tears rolled down her face as she yanked her hood back up over her head.

With the proof of her powers, came the realisation that everything else Professor Xavier said must have been true. She sat devastated in her chair. She hadn't even remembered walking over to it. She stared out of the window, completely numb. She had nothing. She had nothing left, but then again she had nothing in the first place. She felt herself falling into despair.

A rough voice broke her from her depression; "Kid, you gotta snap out of it." She looked into the concerned eyes of Logan. He smiled slightly, uttering a soft; "Hey." She looked around the room; it was completely empty apart from herself and Logan. He answered her unasked question; "Oh, well you've been out of it for quite some time. For some reason I'm always left babysitting and everyone else had kids, er students, to look after. So you're stuck with me."

The girl continued to look at Logan balefully. She whispered quietly; "If I _am_ a mutant, and I can cast illusion...how do I know this is real? I thought my old life was real but you say it wasn't. How can I ever trust myself again?"

Without his enhanced hearing Logan doubted he would have heard her last statement, but thankfully he did. "How about this... I'll keep you anchored to the real world alright? I'll be here. I promise. You know I'm real because no-one could ever dream _me_ up. Whenever you have doubts just look at me and you'll know – you're really here, with me." He squirmed slightly under her intense gaze and his sappy sentence, before she broke out into a watery smile.

"Thank you Logan." She uttered softly.

"That's alright Kid. Oh wait... er... what's your actual name? The Professor never found out - in the compound everyone's just given a number." He asked.

"Well...it's not my real name, so does it matter?" The girl replied.

Logan looked affronted; "Of course it's important! I asked didn't I? That alone makes it matter. Plus, you know kid, your names your identity."

The girl smiled; "Michaela. My name is Michaela Stryker." She looked thoughtful for a moment before continuing; "Oh. I mean it's Michaela, just Michaela."

Logan ignored the slip up; "Well c'mon then kid, let's go raid the kitchen." He got up and was out the door, before Michaela could move.

As she trailed after him she asked; "What was the point of me telling if you're just gonna call me kid?"

Logan's deep chuckle could be heard all the way down the corridor.


End file.
